326 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



from the design of Liberal Bruand, and is clearly and practically 

 planned round sixteen rectangular courts. It is chiefly remarkable for 

 the manner in which an effect of grandeur is obtained by plain masses, 

 with ornament reduced to a minimum. The central court is surrounded 

 by two tiers of plain arcaded loggias breaking forward in square projec- 

 tions in each angle (Fig. 313). The only decorated features are the 

 trophies on the oval dormers and the two orders of engaged columns 

 which mark the entrance to the church. In the outer facade, about 

 670 feet long, the sole decoration is that applied to the dormers, which 

 are similar to those in the court, and to the main entrance, where the 

 cornice breaks round a great semicircular arch, as at F. Mansart's Ste 

 Marie, and contains an equestrian relief of the King. The Salpetriere, 

 a hospice for aged and infirm poor, an earlier work by Liberal Bruand 

 (begun 1656), is very similar in its character. 



TOWN PLANNING. The autocratic, organising, spirit of the age 

 manifested itself in the control of town planning. Under Louis XIV. 

 the private house was forced to merge its individuality even more 

 thoroughly in the comprehensive administrative schemes of which 

 it became a mere item. Like Richelieu, Louis wished to have a 

 regularly planned town at his gates. The whole district round the 

 palace at Versailles was cleared and laid out on a rectangular scheme 

 intersected by the radiating approaches from Sceaux, St Cloud, and 

 Paris, and all the roads of France might be conceived to converge 

 by these three great avenues on the dwelling of the sovereign. Sites, 

 with peculiar privileges attached, were granted to those who undertook 

 to build in conformity with a uniform scheme, which in its main lines 

 was the work of Le Vau. J. H. Mansart did much to give it shape, 

 and, had funds permitted, would have rendered it still more complete. 

 His principal contribution was the Great and Little Stables (1679-85), 

 the two noble blocks so ingeniously planned for the fan-shaped sites 

 opposite the chateau. It was Mansart's wish to link them up with 

 it by arcades, thus reducing the vast "Place d'Arrnes" to a mere fore- 

 court for the palace. 



Less ambitious in conception than this were the two schemes which 

 he carried to a successful issue in Paris the circular Place des Victoires 

 (1684-6) and the Place Louis-le-Grand (or Vendome) (1699) in the 

 form of an elongated octagon. In both, private houses are grouped 

 behind a facade of uniform treatment. In both, the lower storey 

 is a rusticated arcaded basement ; the first and second floors are 

 embraced by a giant order of pilasters, and the steep roof above the 

 entablature broken by dormers of two patterns alternating, and in both 

 each of the openings of the " place " is arranged, as far as possible, to 

 lead up to an important building. The Place Louis-le-Grand (Fig. 455) 

 was diversified by the introduction, in the diagonal faces and the centres 



